Leeann Froese
I recently met with a colleague of mine, Rod Phillips. Rod is a veteran in the liquor industry and is the former head buyer for the Liquor Plus retail chain. Living in Victoria with his wife and two kids, today Rod is co-founder of Liquify.ca, an online marketplace that serves liquor buyers and agents in British Columbia, and is also the host of the Dork UnCorked Radio Show on CFAX 1070.
He and I were talking about the challenges and hurdles that wineries, their sales agents, and their trade customers face.
“The market in BC has changed significantly in the last five years,” he says. “It has never been as competitive as it is right now. There are more than 16 SKUs for every available space on a store shelf. That impacts every BC-made product as well as every import. It also impacts how suppliers and their sales reps approach each call. Where the rubber hits the road for every supplier and agent is at the transaction level, the sale.”
One of the most common problems Phillips reports is that sales reps are often not actually asking for the sale. “In a hyper-competitive market, like what we have in BC, there is no longer the luxury of not asking for the sale,” he notes. ”Great reps ask for the sale every time, all others are just visiting.”
While this is a column on marketing, sales and marketing are deeply intertwined. The differences between the two are that selling focuses on the needs of the seller, while the marketing focuses on the needs of the buyer. Selling works to turn products into cash while marketing works to satisfy the customers' needs through the product. In all my years in the industry, I have never directly sold wine. So my conversation with Rod caused me a lot of reflection. I thought about how often wineries give away time and product, and are not actually asking for the sale. So what’s stopping you?
Don’t Just Visit
Fear of rejection, lack of confidence in your product, not being sure how to ask, or wanting to be friends with the customer are all reasons that we might not ask for the sale.
It takes a lot of sweat equity and cost to make a wine, and it is reasonable to be nervous that someone might not like it. But try not to be concerned and don’t take it personally if the buyer says no. It means they don’t want what you have now, but it doesn’t mean that they reject your brand outright or you as a person.
Strong relationships are the foundation of successful selling. A strong relationship increases your influence because your customer respects your experience and advice. But sales representatives can confuse strong business relationships for friendship, and then fear ruining that friendship if they ask for the sale. What needs to be kept in mind is that while relationships are a key part of selling beverage alcohol, the sales rep-customer relationship is a professional one, and the sales call or visit from a tourist to your tasting bar is a professional exchange. Remember that the buyer knows that you’re a sales professional and that your job is to ask for a commitment – they're expecting you to ask.
Sell, Don't Tell
Untrained salespeople invest valuable time with potential customers who are perfectly willing to make a purchase. These sales reps talk and talk and talk, but because they never ask for the sale, the buyer decides to shop around some more or move on. They were told, not sold. Your buyer has a need and you have a solution, so, ask them to do business with you.
Once you’ve done a good job explaining the features and benefits of your products, you have every right to ask the potential customer if they’d like the opportunity to enjoy those benefits by purchasing what you’re selling.
Plus if a sales rep calls on a potential customer, makes a pitch and doesn’t follow through by asking for the business, it’s abnormal and even a bit rude. The customer can be left wondering what’s the point. They might be thinking ‘does this rep really think I have nothing better to do with my time than listen to them?’
Remember, selling is a process of matching the needs of your customer with the benefits of your product. That process isn’t completed until you ask for the sale.
Leeann Froese owns Vancouver-based Town Hall Brands – a full service marketing agency that specializes in wine, food, and hospitality. See Leeann’s work at townhallbrands.com or follow online at @townhallbrands